The concept by Audi sets new high standards of autonomous luxury sedans of the future.

The interior of the car is spacious due to the absence of a steering wheel and pedals. Moreover, the passengers cannot find a conventional dashboard, which is replaced with a long front infotainment display. The ergonomics of the vehicle includes the perfect positioning of all the touch and display elements. As a result, the passengers can reach the systems with their bare hands. Definitely, the spirit of the driverless future lives in each detail of Aicon’s minimalistic interior.

The innovative four-door two plus two passenger variation of the vehicle allows to transform the interior with movable and folding seats. The transformation lets the passengers enlarge the interior to fit in some extra luggage or other personal belongings.

As many other vision vehicles, AUDI Aicon has the futuristic glass roof, which allows to change the level of its transparency.

Definitely, the new Aicon looks futuristic. For instance, the new concept has no grill due to the electric powertrain, which operates without a radiator. Additionally, the car has no conventional lights from both ends — front and back. Audi Aicon is equipped with digital outside lightning display surfaces instead. The displays consist of hundreds of triangular pixels, which allow to produce colorful graphics, animations and information visualizations. In other words, Audi Aicon could be customized with those displays. Also, the displays will play a communication role — the car can interact with other drivers and pedestrians by showing them the information on the display. According to Audi’s official webpage, the vehicle will be able to make “eye contact” with its surroundings.

The new Aicon has four electric motors (348HP), two pairs at each axel. Each motor drives one wheel and all four units enable a unique ‘quattro electric all-wheel drive’. The variability of the driving wheels is controlled electronically. All four electric motors produce 260 kW and 550 Newton-meters (405.7 lb-ft).

The main battery unit sits below the floor of the vehicle. The position of the energy storage unit is similar to Tesla models. However, the combination of four electric motors instead of one or two (like in all Tesla models) allows maximizing the energy efficiency and, consequently, the range of the vehicle.

Additionally, the new Aicon has novel electric brake units with the system of recuperation for additional energy recovering. The unique combination of superior electric powertrain, lightweight multimaterial body, and superb aerodynamics gives the Audi Aicon an incredible range between 700 and 800 kilometers (435.0–497.1 mi) on a single charge.

The process of charging has also been re-engineered. According to Audi official web-page, the new innovative high-voltage system with 800 volts charges the Aicon’s battery from 0 to 80 percent in less than 30 minutes. Moreover, Audi claims that the charging process can be done wirelessly.

All the common control units, like steering and pedals, are missing in the new Audi Aicon. Instead, Aicon has a virtual assistant, which could be activated by the smartphone. The passenger can also use a voice control and novel eye tracking features — special sensors that constantly track the passenger’s eyes.

The new Audi is designed for the one main purpose — to convert the driver into a passenger. Definitely, inside the new Aicon the travelers can be busy with anything: working, internet browsing, relaxing, and entertaining. For those purposes the passenger can use a super-wide main display in the front and several smaller display panels on the side doors. Additionally, the windshield has a built-in virtual head-up display.

Finally, Audi promises that Aicon will be followed by several new electric self-driving models. These new Audi models will be specializing in different use cases and traffic environments.

Definitely, the vehicle is too futuristic for today’s world. Audi Aicon is designed for the fully autonomous future with no humans behind the wheel. Consequently, Audi removed the steerings and the pedals form its concept vehicle. However, the society is not ready for such a radical solution. Moreover, both legislation and a road infrastructure are still designed only for the vehicles with drivers. Therefore, the autonomous future is still several decades away. Nevertheless, the good news is that everyday humanity is getting closer to the driverless world.

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